"And we tell them how fortunate they are all the time," Cleo snickered.
"We'll sit down and tell you about all our mates soon," Kyler promised. "Our Larentii mates want to meet you."
"You have Larentii mates." I shook my head. How did they all get so lucky?
"Come on, you," Drake walked in with Drew and draped an arm around my shoulders. "We have stuff to buy."
"We're coming," three more people appeared in the kitchen. A short, perky brunette with close-cropped curls was there, flanked by Wlodek and Weldon. Truthfully, I wanted to punch Wlodek and hug Weldon. Both those thoughts flew away when I got the woman's scent—she had Bright Elemaiyan blood.
"I'm Bernadette," she held out a hand, "but that name is embarrassing, so I prefer Fox. And I'm the Ka'Mirai—the one the Elemaiya wish they hadn't rejected."
"I've heard of you," I took her hand. Griffin mentioned her before; said she could turn back time or change things for the Elemaiya. Well, they'd fucked that up, just as he'd said they would.
"I've heard of you—now," Fox smiled brightly. I could see her with Weldon—he doted on her, I could tell that right away. What shocked me was the undiluted love in Wlodek's eyes as he watched her.
"Lissa, we'll talk and I'll grovel later," Wlodek offered. Honestly, I felt a headache coming on. Wlodek looked exactly as he always had—dark eyes and hair; dressed impeccably, still, but his face wasn't as shuttered as it once was. The Saa Thalarr had wrought changes in Radomir and his former vampire sire. It made me wonder what it had done for Merrill and the others.
"And we'll talk about withheld information," I retorted, my voice sharper than I'd intended. Wlodek winced at my words, and that wouldn't have happened before—that was a sure bet. His stone face had cracked—courtesy of the Saa Thalarr.
Lissa, if there were any way to change it, I would, he sent.
"Come on, itty bitty pants, we have shopping to do. There's no time for arguments or depression," Drew leaned down and pecked me on the cheek. I stared up at him. He grinned at me and I blinked, thinking how handsome he and his brother were.
Being able to fold was a special gift. It might have taken me ten or fifteen minutes to get to the shopping mall by misting. Malls were making a comeback, I learned from Grace. They'd fallen in and out of favor many times over the three hundred years I'd been missing.
"You don't know how much we missed you, little girl," Weldon said when we landed in a huge department store. He hugged me tightly, too, before letting me go.
"Weldon, what happened to Winkler?" I asked as we were going through racks of slacks, blouses, jeans, dresses and skirts.
"Lissa, why are you asking about things like that?" Weldon put his arms around me again and kissed my forehead.
"Hey, now," Drake tapped Weldon on the shoulder. Drew was right behind Drake, nodding at his brother's response.
"Winkler did what his father did before him," Weldon sighed, pulling away from me.
"Fuck," I whispered. I wanted to cry.
"Hey, we're here to buy clothes," Drew hugged me. "Dry clothes," he added. Somehow, the twins knew. Winkler's father had forced him to make the challenge, allowing Winkler to take the Dallas Pack and his life. Winkler had given the Pack to one of his children. I'd never get to see him or his beautiful, wolfish grin again.
"I'll be okay," I patted Drew on the back and continued looking through the rack of blouses, though I wanted more than anything to mist away and weep. I forced my thoughts away from Winkler and turned back to the clothing racks. At least Kifirin had given me my hair back; it hung past my shoulders and I'd French-braided it before going shopping. Drake kept playing with my braid the whole time we looked through clothes, and he and his brother had their hands on me as often as possible, offering silent consolation for the hole left in my heart.
"Get everything a little bigger—you still have weight to gain," Devin suggested as we pulled my normal size off the racks. She, Grace, Amara, Kyler and Cleo were doing their best to take care of me, with help from Fox. Of course, Dragon's twins were offering their opinion on everything. Every woman in the store, including the sales clerks, was staring at Drake, Drew, Wlodek and Weldon. Charles showed up after a bit and began pulling things off racks and tossing them into my dressing room. It reminded me of a shopping trip we'd taken so long ago. Wlodek sent Charles and me to London, to buy a wardrobe after I'd been allowed to live by a margin of one vote by the Vampire Council. I figured Wlodek had sent mindspeech to Charles, asking him to come now.
Are they still meeting in the cave? I sent to Wlodek. He was Saa Thalarr—he'd have mindspeech now, even if he didn't have it before. Wlodek knew what I meant.
The cave was bombed several years ago, he replied. By zealots hunting vampire. The Council purchased an old church and excavated beneath it. That's where they meet, now. I heaved a shaky sigh. So many things changed, so many people gone. Moro mou, do not let this upset you, Wlodek added. And you were correct about Nestor and Cecil. They are gone, now. Dalroy, Charles and Rhett are on the Council instead.
Good for them, I returned.
"Oh yeah, keep that," Drake and Drew were both nodding approval at the long black dress Charles found on a rack. It had an empire waist and a halter neckline with thin ties that hung down the back. Most of my back was bare; the back of the dress came down to the small of my back and Drew's fingers touched me there fleetingly as I turned to go back inside the dressing room.
Lunch came after we'd bought a mountain of clothing—someone sent all of it back to the villa using the Power available to them. "This is one of Adam's restaurants," Wlodek informed me when we walked inside. I sighed—I'd gone to one of Adam's restaurants in the past—with Roff, Giff, Franklin, Greg and several others. I squared my shoulders and forced myself not to think about it. Frank was gone; nobody mentioned him. And the whole time I'd been on Kifirin, I hadn't seen Roff or Giff. I had no idea whether they still lived or not.
I'd been seated at the table between Drake and Drew—they'd arranged that somehow. If they were only looking for a fling, I wasn't their girl. I just didn't know how to tell them that.
"The prime rib is good," Drew leaned over my shoulder, reading my menu instead of his own. "And this is good, too," he pointed out a chicken dish. He was as close as he could get, an arm draped around my shoulders as he tapped my menu. I knew by scent that he and his brother were a hundred years old. It made me wonder how I should determine my own age. Was I forty-nine or was I three hundred forty-nine? I didn't know what to do about that.
I settled for the chicken dish and it was good, but I couldn't finish it. Drew helped me eat it and Drake fed me a bit of his dessert. We went looking for lingerie and shoes after lunch; Charles, Drake and Drew insisted on coming along. Charles was the only male who'd ever helped me pick out underwear before, and he wasn't interested romantically. I couldn't say that about the twins, and felt my face go hot several times at the suggestions they made. "No, I hate underwires," I poked Drake in the chest over his choice in bras.
"Then get this one," he picked another in the same color—a fuchsia. I ended up with a pile of underthings I was too embarrassed to put back. The twins were grinning when we were done and Devin and Grace were smiling the whole time they shopped with me. Charles was the voice of reason in all of it, while Kyler, Cleo and Amara made quiet suggestions and watched me carefully. Amara was afraid I might break and Kyler and Cleo were struggling to get used to an Aunt they hadn't known about. I'd bet half the zeros on my credit chip that Griffin hadn't told them anything about me—ever. Until now, that is.
After a while, I had so many pairs of shoes I didn't know what to do with all of them. Those and other accessories were purchased after lengthy consideration. And then everything was sent back to the villa, just like all the other bags.
"Now for jewelry," Wlodek announced. Somebody folded us to an exclusive jewelry store.
"We're wearing our girl out." Somehow, I ended up in Drake's lap, yawning as discreetly as I could while we sat at the jewelry counter. A sales clerk showed us tray after tray of earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets. Drake was running gentle fingers down my ribs and that wasn't hot or anything. It was all I could do not to collapse against him and close my eyes with a contented sigh.
"I like this," Drew pointed out a cuff bracelet in hammered gold that held several rows of diamonds. The price on it could have bought me a round-trip ticket to another galaxy. The cuff was placed on my wrist. "See, that looks good," Drew smiled, leaning forward to kiss me. I blinked at him in a stupor. The sad thing? I wouldn't have minded if he'd gone on kissing me, even while I was sitting on his brother's lap.
"We'll take it," Wlodek announced. There was already a pile of jewelry they'd set aside and we ended up with all of it plus several other items. The total was staggering. I thought I might hyperventilate when Weldon and Wlodek split the ticket.
"We owe you," Weldon whispered near my ear. "And the others are chipping in, too."
"Take her home and let her sleep, she's exhausted," Karzac was suddenly with us, handing out orders.
"I get to hold her on the way home," Drew said softly, and I felt boneless as I was passed from one brother to the other. I was asleep before we ever got home and don’t remember how I got in bed.
* * *
"What can we do about her records?" Merrill asked Wlodek. Wlodek sat in Adam's study at Gryphon Hall, Adam's family home for centuries.
"Are all of them gone? How are some of those things she did explained away?" Adam studied both former vampires sitting before his desk. They were having a brandy and discussing the difficulty they currently faced. Flavio would demand to know how and why a Queen Vampire had escaped his notice.